2011 Keller "Estate" Riesling Trocken

SKU #109368690 points
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Keller's generic 2011 Riesling trocken delivers pungently stimulating apple skin and lemon zest within a juicy, subtly spritzy fresh fruit matrix, and manages to be attractively mouth-filling while (at 12.5% alcohol) preserving a delightful sense of buoyancy. Salt, stone, and fruit pit help extend a refreshing finish. While the 26,000 bottles of this outstanding value - comprised to a significant degree of fruits of -pre-harvest- in the estate's top sites - are meant for and very much succeeds in delivering immediate pleasure, this wine will doubtless remain delicious for several years and quite possibly become even more interesting. "You're bound to get a bargain in this price segment this year," remarks Keller with a grin, "because there wasn't much lesser raw material to divert there."
(2/2013)

K&L Notes

Keller's "basic" Riesling comes from vineyards in and around Dalsheim, planted in six different types of soil. It's a great expression of the Rheinhessen, summed up best by the importer. "There is nothing 'basic' about the basic bottling of Riesling Trocken from Klaus-Peter Keller this year, as this 12% alcohol wine is the epitome of breed and zesty purity. The really lovely nose wafts from the glass in a mix of tart orange, a touch of wild yeasts, pink grapefruit, complex minerality, petrol and lemongrass. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, pure and truly dancing, with a superb core of fruit, ripe acids and outstanding length and grip on the focused and youthful finish. Fine juice."

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Riesling

- While the rest of the world has often misappropriated the name--Welchriesling, Riesling Italico, Gray Riesling and Emerald Riesling are all names applied to varieties that are NOT Riesling--this exceptional German varietal has managed to maintain its identity. Perhaps its biggest claims to fame are its intoxicating perfume, often described as having honeyed stone fruit, herb, apple and citrus notes, and its incredible longevity - the wines lasting for decades. Aged Rieslings often take on a distinctive and alluring Petrol-like aroma. Within Germany, the grape seems to do best in the warming slate soils of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. Other German regions that turn out great Rieslings include Pfalz, Rheingau and Nahe. German Rieslings are made in a range of ripeness levels. The top wines are assigned Prädikat levels to describe their ripeness at harvest. These are: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese. Riesling has also achieved acclaim in France's Alsace, the only region in that country where the grape is officially permitted. Alsatian Rieslings are typically dry and wonderfully aromatic. Austrian Riesling is also steadily gaining praise and fine Riesling is also produced in Italy's Alto-Adige and Friuli, in Slovenia and much of Central and Eastern Europe. In the New World its stronghold is Australia, where it does best in the Eden and Clare Valleys. It is also planted in smaller amounts in New Zealand. In the US, winemakers are eschewing the syrupy sweet versions of the 1970s and 1980s, instead making elegant and balanced wines in both California and Washington State.

Country:

Germany

- Thanks to a recent string of excellent vintages and to the reemergence of Germany onto the international wine writing scene, this is a country that's hot, hot, hot! Germany is divided into 13 wine Region and produces a very wide variety of wine styles, from incredibly high-acid, dry wines to some of the sweetest, most unctuous concoctions on the planet and even a few surprisingly hearty reds. Most of the highest-quality wines are grown on steep banks along the rivers in these Region. Small vineyards are still mostly hand tended and picked, due to the difficult nature of mechanization on these slopes. White wine production accounts for nearly 80% of the total with Riesling being the most important varietal, though Muller-Thurgau is still more widely planted. Click for a list of bestselling items from Germany.